We survived! The trip wasn't necessarily pretty, but definitely worth the hassle!
The gate attendant at RDU literally laughed out loud at me when I asked about any possibility of an empty seat or bulkhead space on the plane, so it was with a gnarly pit in my stomach that we made our way to 38J. "Please let this not be a nightmare," I pleaded silently smashing Forrest and I and all our stuff into a window seat.
Its a good thing he loves planes so much!
"Oh, great." muttered a tall, elegantly dressed woman a few minutes later with barely concealed disdain as she surveyed her seatmates for the next 7 hours. Not a great way to intro the trip, lady, I thought through gritted teeth and holding Forrest in a vice grip lest he reach a grubby paw out to her. In actuality, she turned out much nicer than first impressions, and I think we may have even demonstrated that toddlers can be slightly better than the devils she assumed them to be. For his part, Forrest was equal parts busy-body and charming, but the real challenge was keeping him in my personal bubble space, not hers. We did our best, and he passed out finally (a healthy dose of Benadryl didn't hurt) an hour or two into the flight. I didn't really realize how uncomfortable the flight would be with a 30 lb sleeping sack of potatoes on me, and I'm sure my ass cheeks will never be the same. Baby girl kicked the whole night, completely aggravated by the pummeling she was getting with any of big brother's movements, but all in all, a night of no sleep and alternately numb body parts was very doable.
Coming into Marseilles, France
After a 4 hr. layover in London, it was a 2 hr flight to Marseilles, an easy 30 minute bus ride to Aix-en-Provence and then an awkward bag-laden-stroller-pushing walk for 1.5 km to the hotel. (For reasons still unknown taxis never frequent the Aix bus station -- Yeah, my thoughts exactly).
One of my best friends, Carla, from my year in Chile, is getting her Masters in Barcelona right now and so met us last night here in Aix and is going to hang out for a few days. What a blessing to not only see her again, but to have another pair of hands and eyes to help start off the trip! Carla you are awesome. :)
Aix is beautiful. We woke up at like 10 this morning (I'll say this for Forrest, the kid can sleep) to happy chatter from the locals on the main promenade below our window. It is a balmy 70 degrees here today and couldn't be better weather. The hotel is right in the center of everything and exploring this morning made me glad to have as many days here as I do.
That is all for now -- we're off to find some fresh croissants!